Typewriting machine



April 8 1924.

C. B. CORCORAN TYPEWRLTING, MACHINE Filed May 1, 1920 INVENTOR: @mmw Patented Apr. 8, lgfi l.

UITED STATES,

CORNELIUS B. CORCORA'N, OF NEW YORK, N.

WRITER COMPANY, 01* NEW YORK, N. Y.,

Y., nfssrenon' T unnnnwoon TYPE; A CORPORATIQN or DELAWARE.

TYPEWRITING- M'ACHINE;

Application filed May 1,

T 0 all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, CORNELIUS B. Con- OORAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in borough of the Bronx, of the Bronx, city and State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to typewriting machines, and especially to the kind disclosed in the patent to William A. Dobson, No. 1,335,956, dated April 6, 1920.

In such machines, the case-shift mecha nism is preferably adapted to be locked in the shifted position to enable the upper-case types to print. In small machines, certain diiliculties arise since the mechanism is necessarily built of smaller and weaker parts, with the result that difficulties' arise in making the case-shift lock work satisfactorily. In the larger machines, a case-shift lock can he usually adapted to hold the case-shift mechanism at the limit of its throw, because the length of the key-lever allows the keylever to spring sufficiently to take up what lost motion is necessary to make the lock work satisfactorily. This springing of the key-lever allows the case-shift mechanism to be held at the limit of its movement even in taking up lost motion of the lock.

The key-levers of the smaller machines, however, are so short that such looks as are used in the larger machines are unsatisfactory, because the lost motion cannot well be taken up by the key-lever, with the result that, if the types are actuated when the case-shift lock is effective, the characters typed are out of alignment with the characters typed when the case-shift is held manually effective. Moreover, in smaller machines, if the desired portability is to be retained, the parts must be kept as light as possible and yet have the requisite stiffness.

To obtain uniform alignment at the caseshift operation, whether locked or not, it has been found possible to provide a lockarm for the case-shift key which, when swung to effective position, holds the case-shift mechanism substantially at the limit of its throw, the connections being such that the lock is held effective by mere friction, with the resultthat pressure upon the case-shift key is suflicient to allow the lock to be released.

In the invention as herein disclosed, the

in the county 1920. Serial No.378,110.

locking-arm engages a lug which may be formed as part of the stamping ,out of which the case-shift lever is formed. The lug may spring from the case-shift keylever near its front and extend backwardly behind a comb or plate which carries the locking-arm at its back, thus enabling the lock to be easily adjusted, by bending the Where there is more than one case-shift key-lever, each may be provided with a lug ofthis sort, and the lugs form easily adjustable members for obtaining the desired uniformity of action.

7 Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, 7

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a pair of key-levers of the kind described, showing the present invention as applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same, showing the parts in normal effective position.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, showing the figure-shift key depressed and locked.

In the Underwood standard portable typewriting machine, the character keys 1 are adapted to print either in lower-case, capital-case or figure-case, by means of types, not shown herein. Normally they print in lower case. When it is desired to print in figure-case, which is the highest case, the figure shift key 2 is depressed, as in Figure 3, to carry its key-lever 3 around its pivot 42, so that the rear end 5 of the key-lever lifts a rock-arm 6, which is adapted to lift the shift frame 7 from its normal Figure 2 position to the Figure 3 position. In doing this, the figure-shift key 2 causes a lug 8, near the rear end of its key-lever, to lift a rock-arm 9 and rock to inefiective position a capital-shift stop 10, normally adapted to arrest the shift-frame when the capitalshift key is depressed. The rocking carries. the stop 10 clear of the shift frame, and al lows the shift-frame to riseuntila lip 11 thereon strikes the figure-case-shift stop 12.

When in the Figure 3 position, the shiftkey 2 is adapted to be locked by the pushing rearward of the finger-piece 13, formed as a rock-arm having a lower extension or arm 14 which, at the actuation'of the finger-piece, swings forwardly over a lug 15011 the keylever. When the key-lever is in its Figure 3 position, the lowercnd 16 of the arm fricthe plate or tionally engages the point 1'? of the lug15,

and is held there by friction against the tension of the flat leaf spring 18, which is held by screws 19 to the back of the front plate or comb 20, and tends to return the arm 14 and finger-piece 13 by pressing against a pin 21 upon the arm 14:.

To enable the accurate adjustment of the lug with reference to arm let, the lug is formed as the rear end of a member 22, which may be integral with the key-lever 3 and may spring from the forward part thereof, as shown in the drawings, being bent over horizontally at 23, and comprising a vertical rearwardlyextending body 241, which bends downwardly to its rear end where it engages the arm 14;.

The arm 14; forms an integral part of the stamping which also includes the upper arm 25 terminating in the finger-piece 13, and which further comprises a bail 26 bent around and pivoted on the same shaft 27 that the arm 14 is pivoted on, and also bent downwardly to form a second locking-arm 28 for the capital-shift key 29. The shaft 27 is mounted in brackets 30 on the back of comb 20, and the finger-piece-13 extends through said plate. The arm 28 is adapted to lock the key 29 down, because that key is on the front of a key-lever 31, having a lug forming the rear end of an extension 32, which may belike the extension 22 of the key-lever 3. Thus, when either key 2 or 29 is depressed, it may be locked down by pressing rearwardly upon the finger-piece 13. Since the bottoms or lower ends of the arms 1 1 and 28are nearly concentricwith the shaft 27, the yielding of the key-lever, 3 or 31, under pressure of the typists fingers causes it to yield sufficiently to allow the spring 18 to make the lockingarm ineffective and thereby release the depressed key-lever. 7

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without "others. Having thus described my invention, claim:

1. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift mechanism and two case-shift key-levers, of a Stop for the mechanism for each key-lever, an arm for each lever for holding it depressed, a rockshaft to which both arms are fast, and an integral extension of each of said key-levers connected at one end to the lever and having a lug at the other end, so that its lug can be adjusted up and down on the lever by bending the extension, so that its arm can swing over and look its lever when arrested by its stop.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift mechanism and a case-shift key-lever, of a stop for the mechanism, a front plate beyond which the keylever projects, an arm behind the plate for holding the key-lever depressed, and an integral extension of said key-lever connected to the lever in front of the plate and having a lug at the other end behind the plate, so that the lug can be adjusted up and down on the lever by bending the extension, so that the arm can swing over and lock the lever when the lever is arrested by the stop.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift mechanism and two case-shift key-levers, of stop for the mechanism for each key-lever, a front plate beyond which the key-levers project, an arm behind the plate for each key-lever for holding it depressed, and an integral extension of each keylever connected to its lever in front of the plate and having a lug at the other end behind the plate, so that its lug can be adjusted up and down on the lever by bending the extension, so that its arm can swing over and look its lever when arrested by its stop.

4:. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift 'mechanism and two case-shift key-levers, of a stop for the mechanism for each key-lever, an arm for each lever for holding it depressed, a rockshaft to which both are fast, an integral extension of each of said keydevers connected at one end to the lever and having a lug at the other end, so that its lug can be adjusted up and down on the lever by bending the extension, so that its arm can swing over and lock its lever when arrested by its stop, a. spring normally holding the arms ineffective, and a finger-piece fast on said shaft for making the arms effective.

5. In a type-writing machine, the combination with a caseshift mechanism and a case-shift key-lever, of a stop for the mechanism, a front plate beyond which the keylever projects, an arm behind the plate for holding the key-lever depressed, and an extension of said key-lever bent over to lie alongside of it and to extend from in front of the plate to carry a lug behind the plate, so that the lug can be adjusted up and down on the lever by bending the extension, so that the arm can. swing over and lock the lever when the lever is arrested by the stop.

6. In a typ-ewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift mechanism and two case-shift key-levers, of a stop for the mechanism for each key-lever, a front plate beyond which the key-levers proj eot, an arm behind the plate for each key-lever for holding it depressed, and an extension of each key-lever bent over to lie alongside of it and to extend from in front of the plate to carry a lug behind the plate, so that the lug can be adjusted up and dOWn on the lever by bending the. extension, so that the arm can swing over and lock the lever when the lever is arrested by the stop. 7

7. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift mechanism and two case-shift key-levers, of a stop for the mechanism for each keyJever, an arm associated with each key-lever for holding it depressed, a shaft forming a pivot for the arms, a bail connecting the arms together to compel them to move in unison, and an extension of each of said key-levers rigidly connected at one end to the key-lever and having a lug at the other end, so that said lug can be adjusted up or down on the he -lever by bending said extension, so that the corresponding arm can swing into position to lock its associated key-lever when the key-lever is arrested by its stop.

8. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a case-shift mechanism and two case-shift key-levers, of a stop for the mechanism for each key-lever, an arm asso ciated with each key-lever for holding it depressed, a. shaft forming a pivot for the arms, a bail formed in one piece with the arms and connecting the arms together to compel them to move in unison, an extension of each of said key-levers rigidly connected at one end to the key-lever and having 3, lug at the other end, so that said lug can be adjusted up or down on the key-lever by bending said extension, so that the corresponding arm can swing into position to look its associated key-lever when the keylever is arrested by its stop, a spring normally holding the arms ineffective, and a finger-piece connected to the arms for overcoming the spring to make the arms effective. I

CORNELIUS B. GORGORAN. 

